Move in to NZ, renting apartment

[shmyasir]

Hi ,

I am arriving to Auckland with family (2 kids) in March. Could you please share your experience how you handled the place to live for the first weeks.
Planning to rent apartment in city center, how fast it can be arranged after arriving? is it possible to arrange renting before flying in? what is the procedure ?

Thanks in advance,

[Sun777]

Service apartment will be best if you are arriving with family, you will find quite a few within city center vicinity. We opted for Heritage service apartments which was walking distance to my office and then looking for homes was quite easy via bus ride. Occasionally you can cook in the apartment to keep cost of eating out low. I would suggest doing the house hunt once you are here as some houses look amazing in pictures and in reality it could be quite different. Getting used to Auckland can take up-to 3 weeks (at least that was time frame for us)

[shmyasir]

Thanks for sharing, Sun777, heard about service apartment, going to look for it.

[shmyasir]

Thanks, I checked service apartments and they are quite expensive per night more than 200$, we are going to look for job offers so we need to keep our expense in strict control initially. Any other ideas please as we will be landing on 15th of March and we are looking under 600$/wk budget

[Sun777]

Thanks, I checked service apartments and they are quite expensive per night more than 200$, we are going to look for job offers so we need to keep our expense in strict control initially. Any other ideas please as we will be landing on 15th of March and we are looking under 600$/wk budget

There are apartments in the city center which are under $450 per week, these are usually furnished and have functional kitchenette. Regarding service apartments, have you tried to call them and mentioned about renting for more than 1 week (or whatever timeframe you were looking for), as you can negotiate with longer term rent.

With cricket worldcup fever, I wont be surprised if the hotels are fully booked. Another option would be to book motel which are relatively cheaper to hotels but my personal choice would always be renting an apartment.